


Onyx's Tale

by Starwaia



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, OC torment, Original Character(s), Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond, Sad, failed non-CG rebellion, written before "Gem Drill"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8329060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starwaia/pseuds/Starwaia
Summary: Based on a dream I had, this is the story of Onyx, a young gem who was psychologically tortured by Yellow Diamond. Sorry if she's too sue-ish, I wrote this mostly for my own indulgence, but I hope others can appreciate it even so.If you have constructive critique, please feel free to share! Please don't be too harsh though, as like I said this was mostly an indulgence. Thanks!





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Deviantart acct, Uberviolet: A pretty self-indulgent story but it was fun to write. Written before the episode "Gem Drill" was out so the gem shards in this are nothing but gem shards. I might write another version with sentient shards, but if I do, it won't be for a while as I've been pretty busy lately. It definitely has potential for making Onyx's punishment even more creepy... once you read this I'm sure you'll understand. ^w^
> 
> ((More on inspiration for certain parts is at the end of the work, to avoid spoilers))

It started with a rebellion, a small uprising, only 9 or so gems involved. They were struck down, of course, for the Homeworld is no place for dissent. 8 of them were shattered. These things happen; it is hard to smoothly run an empire without some sort of negative feeling from the lower classes. Said dissenters are swiftly made examples of, and all is well.

The 9th gem was Onyx.

Onyx was young, susceptible into believing in a cause that would go nowhere, as such causes always do. She truly thought she could make a change. How pathetic.  
When the rebellion had failed, 8 gems were shattered. 8 gems, destroyed irreparably before their time. The 9th gem was Onyx. Onyx, who could only wonder why she had been spared. Wonder, and fear. And grieve.  
Oh, she would grieve.

She hardly struggled, when she was dragged to see Yellow Diamond. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would be crushed as well. She wanted to see the face of her tyrant, the one who had caused so much suffering, as she believed, perhaps rightfully. She was obliged.  
Shaking a little- for who wouldn't, in the presence of such a powerful and dangerous gem leader- Onyx held her head high and awaited her fate.  
Yellow Diamond wouldn't let her have even that.

Onyx was taken to a room, a rather spacious one, but without windows, and only one door. The room was lit. Onyx gasped in horror.  
The floor glimmered in the light, a mosaic of gem shards of many wars, though Onyx could not know that. Onyx was told that these were the gems that had died because of HER stupidity. Consequences of the rebellion. Small uprisings lead to chaos, she was told, and chaos is not good for gems.  
Flung to the ground, surrounded by grief, Onyx did not move as Yellow Diamond and her entourage left the room, shutting the poor gem into a prison of death. Onyx knew why she hadn't been shattered. She would be a living representation of the pain these gems had gone through. It was her fault, after all. Her responsibility.

Years pass. Onyx lay there, unmoving, her gem pressed to the floor, sure she would never move again.  
On occasion, a sliver of light enters the room as the doors are opened. Onyx never questions this, assuming she is being checked on by her captors. Not that she has any reason to fight back anymore. On one such occasion, the door remains open. Onyx squints, trying to block out the light and the image of her shattered comrades, plastered on her retinas from all directions. A blanket is placed over her. Onyx stiffens. The door closes. Later, Onyx would wonder who would give a gem such as her any sort of affection. At the moment she barely noticed, other than to think, Idon'tdeservethisIdon'tdeserve  
The blanket was not thrown off, however. It was a small comfort in her dark world.

The years go by, and Onyx lies on the corpses of thousands, no, milllions of gems. All her fault. All her fault.  
One day, the doors open again, and as usual, Onyx pretends not to notice. It is only when delicate footsteps reach her, that she considers looking up. Before she makes the decision, a kiss is placed on her gem. After a minute frozen with shock, she opens her eyes, squinting in the harsh light as a figure walks slowly towards the door, looking back only once. It is a face she has never seen before, but she knows what it is. A pearl. Then the door closes, and Onyx is surrounded by darkness once more. She never sees that pearl again.

More years pass, and Onyx never dreams. She only sits there, with the remains of millions of gems, and the memory of a kiss. A pearl's kiss.  
Yellow Diamond never comes to see her, nor does any other gem. As far as Onyx is aware, the world is made up of this room full of corpses. Corpses, and one traitor undeserving of love, even a pearl's.

Eventually a rebellion is successful. Onyx is not aware of this. Rose Diamond defects and a thousand year war is fought on a planet Onyx has never heard of. "Earth".

Yellow Diamond finally takes notice when a small force, the "Crystal Gems", is found on the abandoned planet by a Peridot doing mantinence checks. Fights ensue, and eventually lead back to Homeworld, where more gems are inspired by the legendary Rose Quartz. There is chaos everywhere, like Yellow Diamond had warned so many centuries earlier. But there is hope, too.

Onyx's room is eventually unearthed when Yellow Diamond is felled and her city is taken. A group of gems pry open the door, which, though heavy, had never been locked. They gasp in awe at the size of the room, then in horror at the sight of the shattered gems made use of merely for decoration. Then one notices a figure lying under a tattered blanket, apparently asleep, or at least dormant. No-one can get her to move, though they try. She keeps her eyes firmly shut, grasping the blanket as if a lifeine. She does not believe them when they say she is free. How can a murdering traitor be free?  
In the end, one gem comes forward. She has been through horrors as well, in this case as a mass-produced gem whose life had been unvalued, the same as others of her kind. She touches the shoulder of the grieving gem, and nudges her into getting to her feet, albiet shakily as Onyx has not moved in centuries.  
The one who reaches forward to touch the gem who everyone shunned, was scared of even, knows the pain of years of war. Onyx was young. She was not ready.  
In the end, Onyx is saved by a pearl.

**Author's Note:**

> ((Inspired heavily by Projectormom on tumblr's theories and the Breaking Down series on Archive Of Our Own in regards to Pearls. The phrase "Insincere as a Pearl's kiss" being a common saying on Homeworld is one such theory which inspired this story. Or course, Pearls do have feelings, but sometimes fashions change or one accidentally learns military secrets and must then be shattered. This may or may not have been the fate of Onyx's caretaker...))


End file.
